Egypt divided over Tahrir
Opposition says Islamists have stolen revolution
CAIRO — Screaming that their revolution had been stolen from them and that nothing had changed, tens of thousands of Egyptian liberals marked the anniversary of the revolt that they led two years ago by staging huge street protests Friday against the fledgling government of President Mohammed Morsi.
In scenes reminiscent of the heady, uncertain days at the start of the uprising in January 2011 when hopes of toppling Hosni Mubarak’s military regime soared and everything seemed possible, protesters clashed repeatedly with police and sometimes with each other in several major cities.
“Bread, freedom and social justice. That is what we wanted then and that is what we want now,” Bassel Adel said, repeating a popular mantra first heard at rallies two years ago.
“We are unhappy because we did not get anything we wanted. Morsi has no interest in democracy or political freedom. He has produced a constitution without consulting the people.”
Adel, who sits in the current parliament for the opposition Dustour Party, threatened that if Morsi did not meet their demands, his party and others would band together to boycott elections that have been pushed back from this month until April.
“This is the beginning of another revolution,” Ahmed Attif said as he hawked scarves at Tahrir Square.
“The Egyptian pound is down against the dollar. Our economy is even worse now than it was under Mubarak. Morsi behaves like a dictator. Something must be done.”
That sentiment was what brought Mohammad Ahmed, who is unemployed, to Tahrir Square.
“We begin again because no other course of action is open to us,” Ahmed said. “Life is worse for us in every way today. We don’t trust the police. Most of us have serious economic problems and no chance to solve them.”
One of the many reasons the Egyptian revolution remains incomplete is because the country is still deeply divided with no hint that either side wishes to compromise.
Morsi’s government has shown little aptitude for running a government, tackling the economy or reforming the security services. Morsi is hemmed in by another problem. His supporters, and those who back his far more extreme partners, the Salafis, are clamouring for Islamization while the opposition and western governments, including the U.S., whose loans keep Egypt afloat, are concerned about the lack of political freedom and the rights of women and minorities.
Mostly there is a sense of paralysis. The secular and Islamist visions fight for supremacy. Nobody talks of compromise. The cards remain heavily stacked in the Muslim Brotherhood’s favour. They and their allies usually win about 70 per cent of the vote and they are likely to do so again in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
The secularists and the country’s large Coptic Christian minority have had trouble accepting that practising democracy includes accepting defeat at the ballot box. The Islamists have also had trouble acknowledging others have rights, too, and that dramatic social change cannot be imposed when millions of their compatriots are strongly opposed.